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A Hong Kong resident and a female Mainlander have been convicted and jailed for conspiracy to defraud by entering into a bogus marriage.
Both the 57-year-old male resident Cheng Yuen-kwong and 42-year-old Mainlander He Ye pleaded guilty at the Sha Tin Magistrates' Court today (April 3) to a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud, dishonestly causing the marriage registrar to officiate their marriage.
They were each sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.
An Immigration Department spokesman said that the female defendant, He, was arrested during an anti-vice operation last month (February) for alleged involvement in prostitution. Records revealed that she married Cheng in December, 2005, in Hong Kong. Investigators took over the case as they had doubts about the genuineness of the marital relationship.
He admitted that in September, 2005, she had spoken to a matchmaker who claimed that a bogus marriage could be arranged for her with a Hong Kong resident for $20,000. As she wanted to settle in Hong Kong on the strength of a One Way China Exit Permit (OWCEP) as a Hong Kong resident's spouse, she agreed to the proposal.
Cheng agreed to marry He through arrangements of the same matchmaker and had been paid $3,000. Neither Cheng nor He had met each other before the date of marriage registration. They planned to divorce once He obtained an OWCEP.
The department is actively conducting investigations into the alleged matchmaker and prosecution proceedings would be instituted once there was sufficient evidence. "We will not allow any person to cause a marriage registrar to officiate a marriage by deception," the department spokesman said.
Under the laws of Hong Kong, anyone who commits the offence of conspiracy to defraud is liable to prosecution and upon conviction, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for 14 years.
Ends/Monday, April 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:26
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